Liam Dixon tried his hand at poetry less than a year ago "just because".
From there his flair for the written word and love of performing drew the 16-year-old into the spotlight, where he discovered for his talent for slam poetry.
"I can't sing so instead I write to the certain rhythm in my head. Slam poetry is similar to song-writing but without the music.
"It's a release, I like writing about world issues, things like social hierachy, social injustice, world greed, but I also wrote a poem about an orange because nothing rhymes with orange," he said with a laugh.
The Rotorua Lakes High School Year 12 student has had a smattering of gigs since he started performing mid-2016, his biggest as the guest performer at last year's inaugural Matariki Star Search.
"I'm pretty low key about it, my friends think it's pretty lame but I love the controversy and provocativeness you can create. I've had people come up to me saying they felt the same way about an issue but just didn't know how to express it.
"There's a real truthfulness to slam poetry, you have to be truthful to yourself and your audience."
Liam, a fan of hip hop's Kendrick Lamar and A$AP Rocky, said he found inspiration everywhere.
"Ipod notes are great because I often find myself walking around town and I'll be hit with an idea that I have to get down. Auckland is a sad town to walk around, there's so much homelessness there."
His favourite poem to date is Supermarket Shopping, which looks at the issue of world greed through food waste.
"Spoken word is powerful. You can take an issue and word it however you want.
"I want to pursue acting after school but this is another pathway I could take, another [arrow] in my quiver."
Liam said a certain element of slam poetry was impromptu, with his poems having multiple, interchangeable verses.
"I can perform the same poem for two different audiences and deliver two very different performances. Some of my poems have quite dark verses so I'll gauge the audience and swap them out - that's not often decided until once I've started speaking."
He encouraged people to give slam poetry a try, even if they did not do the performance side.
"Even just writing for yourself is a great outlet, it lets you explore your thoughts and really think about how you see the world. It's a good thing to do just for yourself."